Twelve of the 17 people indicted in an Oregon food stamp skimming ring have been sentenced, and together they drew 157 months in federal prison. Shipping records tie the ring to more than 124,000 pounds of infant formula bought with stolen SNAP benefits, valued at over $2.4 million. The Justice Department’s October 21 announcement leaves five defendants without a reported sentence.
How skimmed accounts became pallets of infant formula
The ring started with stolen account data. The Justice Department says its members obtained SNAP account information through skimming devices and other means, then used the stolen benefits to buy large amounts of infant formula and other food in Oregon, Washington, California and other states. Prosecutors who announced the case in October 2024 said purchases also went through grocery store websites with curbside pickup.
Anyone who gets SNAP can end up on the receiving end of this. USDA says criminals steal benefits through card skimming, card cloning and other scams, often with high-tech tools. The Justice Department’s release describes one mother who learned her benefits were gone when her EBT card was declined at a grocery store, and who then took out loans to feed her children.
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Most of the theft crew were Romanian nationals living in the United States unlawfully, the department says. They sold what they bought to a transport crew run by Ana Patricia Escalante. That crew stockpiled the goods and moved them in private vehicles and through commercial carriers for resale on the black market.
Shipping records documented more than 124,000 pounds of formula worth over $2.4 million, the department says. When the 17 were indicted in 2024, prosecutors said more than 120,000 pounds of goods sat in homes and storage units in Oregon and Washington, bought with more than $2.4 million in stolen benefits.
The department’s summary lists the case at $4.4 million in intended loss. That is well above the $2.4 million in stolen benefits the indictment described, and the summary does not break down the difference.
Twelve sentences, 157 months, and 27 at the top
Escalante, who led the transport crew, was sentenced September 9 to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.4 million in restitution. She was one of 17 defendants indicted in October 2024 in an interstate conspiracy. Hers is the only individual term the summary spells out.
Twelve defendants have been sentenced so far, for a combined 157 months in prison and full restitution orders. Take out Escalante’s 27 months and the other eleven share 130, just under 12 months apiece by simple division. The department has not said when the remaining five will be sentenced.
All 17 were charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and were arrested in one coordinated operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon. USDA’s inspector general and Homeland Security Investigations worked the case with Portland police, and prosecutors from three federal districts took part.
U.S. Attorney Natalie Wight said when the indictment was announced that the group targeted “a program that ensures access to healthy and affordable groceries” for low-income families. Robert Hammer, the Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge for the Pacific Northwest at the time, put it this way: “Every dollar stolen is a dollar that could have fed a child in need.”
Shawn Dionida, the USDA inspector general’s special agent in charge at the time, described how the conspirators used skimmed accounts to buy formula and energy drinks and resold them for gain. Portland Police Chief Bob Day credited a Portland detective’s initiative and follow-up for drawing in federal partners as the case grew.
On October 21, Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald, who leads the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, said the human cost of these schemes is measured “not in spreadsheets, but in the panic of a mother.” USDA Inspector General John Walk said SNAP fraud “despicably robs from low-income Americans that rely on the program for food assistance.”
The same playbook, charged again in Portland
A second Oregon case shows the method has not gone away. A federal grand jury in Portland returned a 26-count indictment on November 12, 2025, against Aramis and Cristina Manolea and co-conspirators, charging conspiracy to defraud the United States, unauthorized use of access devices, device-making equipment offenses and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney’s April 29 release.
Prosecutors say the Manoleas used stolen EBT account information and PINs from April through November 2025 to buy infant formula and other SNAP-eligible items. The goods were packed in storage units and trucked to California. Both pleaded guilty and agreed to pay restitution on almost $27,000 in stolen benefits, with sentencing set for May 22 and May 29.
The pattern matches the larger ring’s: formula bought with stolen accounts, then driven to California. USDA’s SNAP page lists a proposed rule on EBT card security measures among its recent items, with nothing beyond the title.
Prosecutors counted the larger ring’s losses at more than $2.4 million across Oregon, Washington and California, and the sentences now settle what the crew owes in court. They do not settle what a family does in the first hour after its own card comes up empty.
Skimmed card, empty balance: what comes first?
The sentences close a prosecution, which is a different job from the one a family faces when its own EBT card is skimmed. The Oregon ring’s purchases ran across three states before federal agents connected them, a connection Portland’s police chief credited to one detective’s follow-up. A household has to do that connecting for itself, starting with a record of what happened and who was told.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit gives that record a home: the first-hour recovery plan, a fraud evidence and report log, and the free credit-freeze steps. Part 3, Reporting, and What Each Report Does, lays out which report goes where.
Start the first-hour recovery plan and fraud evidence log from the kit →
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
